New rebel with spots, please help

07/27/2007 10:50:40 PM · #1

It's got a rash!

Just bought my rebel on Wednesday - amazing price, open-box sale (meaning someone else bought it and returned it within two weeks). Camera was supposedly cleaned and fully inspected prior to returning to the shelf.

Everything seemed okay, until I saw pics with sky in them. Two spots appeared, noticed them first on Thursday. I cleaned the lens and they seemed to disappear (however, the sun had set considerably, and the sky was too pale, I think, for them to show up). This evening, sure enough, the spots are back and they brought a friend, a third one in the middle.

Sooo, cleaned the lens again, and they're still there - when I look through the lens, holding it to a light, I can see a couple of little black flecks that seem to be actually within the lens itself (I'm talking about the kit lens). This is what I assume it is. Is there any way I can clean this, or should I just bring it back? And what would cause this, since Thursday there were only two, and now there are three?

Thursday Night

Friday Night

FYI, I severely boosted the levels and contrast to make them stand out more.

07/27/2007 10:55:21 PM · #2

You've got dust bunnies on your sensor. They usually come factory installed BTW. A local camera shop can clean it for you, or you can DYI.

USe a hurricane blower (bulb) and try to blow them away. Be careful notto bump the sensor.

There is a sensor clean option in your menu you need to turn on before you do this.

Don't (REPEAT) don't use canned air or any other type of compressed air.

Message edited by author 2007-07-27 22:56:23.

07/27/2007 10:57:26 PM · #3

so the little flecks in my lens are nothing to worry about?

surfdabbler

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II

07/27/2007 10:57:32 PM · #4

Ha, ha, I thought at first you were making a joke about the birds. :)

But, alas, no.

These do appear to be dust bunnies. The fact that more are appearing means the camera could well have been clean before you got it.

If you really want to see them well, take a photo at f22. Shutter speed doesn't matter, because no matter how hard you shake the camera, the spots are not going to move. :) Anyway, at f22, you'll see them really well. At very wide apertures, they will often be invisible.

Your profile only lists one lens. Have you changed lenses at all? You need to make sure you switch off the camera before changing lenses, and always try to be clean about it.

Good news is that dust spots are very easy to clean off. The place you bought the camera from may be happy to clean them for you, and hopefully should only be a day turnaround. Otherwise, you can try blowing them off yourself if you have a blower. Take it easy and careful, and find some instructions on the web for how to blow the sensor clean. Otherwise, there are other sensor cleaning methods with special brushes and swap kits and stuff like that. Eventually, you'll need to know about sensor cleaning anyway, but it's a pity to come up against it so soon.

emlbaker

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

07/27/2007 10:57:46 PM · #5

Is there any visibility of these spots through the view finder. If they are on the lens you might see them through the viewfinder. Perhaps try looking through the viewfinder while aiming at a bright white piece of paper or something.

Is it the only lens that you have, or do you konw someone close that has a lens that will fit the camera to confirm it as a lens problem. They look too large to be dust spots.

RainMotorsports

Nikon D60

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

07/27/2007 10:58:38 PM · #6

Originally posted by emlbaker:

They look too large to be dust spots.

Their not dust spots their dust bunnies!

Message edited by author 2007-07-27 22:59:56.

bergiekat

Canon EOS-5D Mark IV

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II

07/27/2007 10:59:05 PM · #7

Oh, I've got (had) one of those "factory installed" bunnies too. Makes me crazy, but haven't been able to blow it away. Can't see in the viewfinder.

surfdabbler

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 II

07/27/2007 11:06:34 PM · #8

Originally posted by emlbaker:

Also try the DOF preview button. They may stand out better in the VF at smaller aperture, so get a really bright piece of paper so you can still see it stopped down.

07/27/2007 11:08:23 PM · #9

Ack! There's more! Took a shot of my wall at f22, and now I have a gang! Just give me a sec to resize and I'll post it here.

This is my only lens, I can see two spots through my lens, in the bottom right, nothing along the top where these guys seem to be.

07/27/2007 11:10:35 PM · #10

Originally posted by ivale28:

I can see two spots through my lens

You won't be able to see lens spots through the viewfinder. The aperture is too wide when not shooting. Those tow spots are probably on the viewfinder itself or on the mirror.

emlbaker

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

07/27/2007 11:13:42 PM · #11

Noting that it was "open box" sale, did the seller mention anything about warranty etc. I know how p*&&ed I would be if I had just picked this thing up and it had this problem already. Perhaps the reason it was returned in the first place. They surely should have told you why it was returned if they had know of the problem before letting you walk away with it.

It may be that they can take it back and resolve the issue. It is obviously useless to you in its current state.

Hope you can find a solution soon though, as there is nothing worse than having the motivation and time to get out and get snapping, but having one thing or another hold you back

07/27/2007 11:14:57 PM · #12

Lol, I have another dust thread open and accidentally posted this in there first! Meant to just put it here!

07/27/2007 11:16:29 PM · #13

emlbaker - I bought it at Best Buy - I have full warranty, and still have time to bring it back if I need to, so no worries there! Definitely frustrating, to say the least. And since it's my first slr, a little frightening too!

emlbaker

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

07/27/2007 11:18:59 PM · #14

Originally posted by ivale28:

Dont be too disheartened by it. Take into consideration everything leading up to the spots (open box sale etc). I am sure that this is not something that happens all too often.

They are pretty rugged things that will take a fair bit of punishment. This, I am sure is pretty isolated. Dust occurs, and if it is simply dust in this case, I would hazard a guess it was somewhere in the body to begin with.

RainMotorsports

Nikon D60

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR

07/27/2007 11:20:24 PM · #15

Originally posted by ivale28:

Dust is a fact of owning one of these blasted things. You remove it... then remove it later again!

07/27/2007 11:41:24 PM · #16

Originally posted by RainMotorsports:

Dust is a fact of owning one of these blasted things. You remove it... then remove it later again!

Yup, or just get friendly with your clone tool.

07/27/2007 11:59:54 PM · #17

Thanks to everyone - now I know not to panic next time I see spots!

07/28/2007 12:02:23 AM · #18

Originally posted by ivale28:

Thanks to everyone - now I know not to panic next time I see spots!

You could take up a career shooting Dalmatians ;-)

07/28/2007 12:05:18 AM · #19

wouldn't have to worry about cloning out dust then, would I?

07/28/2007 12:07:03 AM · #20

Originally posted by ivale28:

wouldn't have to worry about cloning out dust then, would I?

Nope, the more the better.

Mr_Pants

SiPix Blink

07/28/2007 01:24:41 AM · #21

Originally posted by RainMotorsports:

Originally posted by ivale28:
emlbaker - I bought it at Best Buy - I have full warranty, and still have time to bring it back if I need to, so no worries there! Definitely frustrating, to say the least. And since it's my first slr, a little frightening too!

Dust is a fact of owning one of these blasted things. You remove it... then remove it later again!

That's a fact. Indeed, the most recent camera I bought came with a hair on the sensor. It was a bit of a pity that I didn't bother to do any test shots stopped down before I went out and did some portraits of my 3-month old niece. Just a little bit of cloning was necessary. After all the cursing, that is.

I'd say to definitely get a blower, as suggested above. Using one isn't that scary really!